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"Those creatures provided some sport but mostly against other slaves. They were mindless beasts once brought back to Commorragh. Very little sport, indeed." The succubus examined the razor sharp blades which replaced her natural fingernails. "Already the audience is moving on to other arenas. Perhaps my cult should reconsider our alliance."

Archon Llaethe sneered in contempt. "Well, Capria, perhaps your cult lacks the skill necessary to train the beasts. I recall watching the beasts of Strife. They were quite puissant."

A low growl escaped from the succubus's throat. "Don't speak to me of the Strife. They are all graceless mongrels sucking on the teats of that cow Hesperax."

Llaethe smiled as she watched Capria struggle to control herself. "In any event, as it happens, I am planning a series of realspace slave raids. If you wish to send along some envoys, that is your right as my... ally. Of course, if you would rather cease our relationship I am sure I can find another taker."


Last weekend was the first Sprue Posse open of the year and I brought my new Dark Eldar army. I spent the week before building like a mad fiend and then the night before priming everything so at least there would be no grey plastic on the table.



They are dark and sneaky.

I actually had to change my list up a bit at the last minute because I forgot to prime my archon model (it was still sitting on my paint station - d'oh!)

Kabal of the Razor's Song

Haemonculus (WWP, Shattershard) - deployed with wyches every game - the liquifier was upgraded because I had 5 extra points. I used it just as often as I use the liquifier.

9 Wyches (Hekatrix, Agonizer, Haywire grenades, Raider, Shock prow)
5 Warriors (Blaster)
5 Warriors (Blaster)
5 Warriors (Blaster)

5 Trueborn (3 Blasters, 2 Splintercannons, Raider, Shock prow)
5 Trueborn (3 Blasters, 2 Splintercannons, Raider)
5 Trueborn (3 Blasters, 2 Splintercannons, Raider)

5 Reavers (Cluster Caltrops, Heat Lance)

Ravager
Ravager
Ravager

So far I had 2 games under my belt with the Dark Eldar so I was looking forward to broadening my knowledge of how the army plays and no delusions of doing well. I went into the tourney hoping to not go 0-4 but not going to be too upset if I did.

This is a pretty unsubtle list for Dark Eldar. Basically, I try and play back out of LOS as much as possible taking snipe shots as I can and then take objectives toward the end of the game. It is pretty much the shootiest list I have ever played. At least in theory.

There were dozens of mirrors lining the walls. Some even reflected her image back at her. She stopped before one of these and smiled. Her teeth were perfect, of course, as were her features. The lesser races would worship her as an avatar of beauty and, on occasion, she allowed it by visiting their most prominent artists by night. Most were insane by the time she was done playing with them but that just made their woe more delightful.

She was beautiful and powerful. Her dark sun was rising as her Kabal grew in might and all in Commorragh knew that might was really all that mattered. Already she was taking meetings from a half dozen of the lesser Covens. She knew of three wych cults that were working to wrench her patronage from the Cult of the Nine Wounds.

She enjoyed the power but knew all too well how fleeting it could be. Had she not usurped control of the Kabal from the Archon who previously led it? His broken form still adorned the wall of her bed chamber forcing him to watch her nightly diversions. His despair would soon bore her and she would hand him over to whichever coven she decided to ally with.

There were no greater signs of power than the real space raids. It said you had the resources to send an army away and still retain enough to control your domain in the Dark City. It was a delicate dance but she was discovering a natural mastery for its steps.

She reluctantly turned from her own reflection and gazed into a farseeing mirror. Ugly machines belched black smoke into the air around clumsy clanking walkers. Greenskinned savages cheered and cavorted around them and fired heavy guns into the air. Orks were a perenial favorite in the arenas - their seeming ignorance of pain and unwillingness to die always made it a bit more deadly for the wyches.

"Yes, if Capria is unable to present a good show with the greenskins, then perhaps it's time for me to start grooming one of her bloodbrides as a successor."


Game 1 was against Erudog's Ork Kan Wall

Mission 1 was a Dawn of War Annihilation and I found myself facing Erudog's very nasty Kan wall list. Erudog is kind of new to 40k but he is definitely going to be one to watch for.

The list he took looked like:

HQ
Big Mek (Kustom Force Field)
Big Mek (Kustom Force Field)

Troops
Boyz x20 (Shoota, Big Shoota x2) Nob (Power Klaw, Bosspole)
Boyz x20 (Shoota, Big Shoota x2) Nob (Power Klaw, Bosspole)
Gretchin x x10 Runtherd

Fast Attack
Deffkopta (TL Rockitt)
Deffkopta (TL Rockitt)

Heavy Support
Killa Kanz x3 (Rockitt x3)
Killa Kanz x3 (Rockitt x3)
Killa Kanz x3 (Kustom Mega Blasta x3)

Elite
Loota x5
Loota x5
Kommandos x13 (Burna x2) Snikrot

The Game

He won the roll to go first and walked pretty much everything on. I kept everything off table as well and on my turn 1 everything with a transport moved on flat out, the ravagers came on and tried to snipe with night vision (but failed) and everything else was in reserve.



The line of orks advanced as one and the only reserve that showed up on 2 was snikrot and his kommandos. Oops, I had kind of forgotten about him when I moved on. He shot and charged the wyches raider wrecking it. The wyches hopped off on the other side and were not pinned. The trueborn's raider was also wrecked, killing 2 of them (1 each blaster and splinter cannon) and they passed the morale check but not the pinning one.



My reserves saw the reavers arrive and they zoomed over the orks killing off 4 or 5 of the greenskins but they made their morale check and set to receive a charge from the wyches who cut the orks down and consolidated back out of LOS. The haemonculus separated from the wyches and brought in the WWP. All of the ravagers shot at the kans on the building (which was treated as a ruin that you had to use 3" of movement to get on top of) and killed 2 of them with immobilize results. The trueborn on the right side shot their splinter cannons at a unit of lootas and killed enough to have them take (and fail) a leadership test and leg it off the table.



The orks continued their implacable advance and the deffkoptas arrived, one on each side of the table. One of them took a shot at the wyches but didn't do anything. The other shot at the trueborn who had accounted for the lootas and killed 1. I pulled the closest one and it pulled me out of charge range.

The grots appeared and, quite sensibly, hid behind the building.

The other lootas shot at the reavers and did 2 wounds which I failed both cover saves. They then failed their leadership test, fell back 7" then failed to rally and fell off the table. D'oh!

All of my warriors arrived and came through the WWP.

The wyches charged the deffkopta and killed it, the trueborn shot the other deffkopta and killed it and tied us on kill points. All I had to do was kill that last killakan to win (we were about out of time). I fired all three ravagers at it blowing off a weapon and immobilizing it. I think fired two units of trueborn blasters at it blowing off the other weapon and finally killing it with another weapon destroyed. It was scary though, I thought I was going to have to use all the warriors blasters as well! The death of a thousand cuts, as someone mentioned. Seriously, 15 str 8 shots at a killa kan that wasn't even in range of the kff! Insane, but a win for the Dark Eldar and a heck of a fun game.

After Action Review
Before the tourney started I looked at all the lists and decided I didn't want to face the kan wall. Which was game 1, of course. Erudog is a new player and made a couple of tactical errors (shooting at a unit that was barely in charge range, advancing the single kan rather than falling back behind the building) that would have made it much more difficult for me to pull of a victory.

I was happy with how everything in my list did (aside from the reavers failing 2 out of 2 saves and then 2 out of 2 leadership checks).

The raider rocked and bucked like it was on rough water as the antigrav engines struggled with the greenskins thrashing beneath it. Great steel barbs had been run through the orks slabs of muscles and they dangled beneath it, swinging and trying to unhook themselves.

The ship slid through reality into the dark city. Llaethe ordered them directly to the arenas. She knew from past experience how the the fungal creatures would spore the ground with their blood giving rise to a whole horde of the vermin.

Leave that for Capria and her arena, she thought to herself. Maybe one of the mushrooms would kill the succubus and save Llaethe the trouble.

"Wot 'da 'ell wuz dat!?" belched one of the Big Meks. "You call 'dat a 'propa fixin' of 'dem poin'y-eared freeks you mangy runts!? Do you 'ear um? Dey'z laffin at us wif der 'urty syringes or wuteva, dey is havin' a romp fer 'umiliatin' us like dat!" Gutwrench picked up his mighty spanner, and with a loud grunt swung it at a nearby unsuspecting boy who was burnishing the deep wound on his chest, sending him splattering about in green and gory chunks. The rest of the boyz flinched as the Mek swung the spanner above his head a final time, this time smashing the still animate head. The disappointment was ripe in the Mek's face as he trotted toward one of the wrecked Kans that stood motionless; its hot, rusted metal still letting out the consistent tempo of pops and taps from the cooling of its joints. He scavenged some key pieces from the crude machine while letting out the occasional belch and mumble as he inhaled his half-bitten cigar. Carrying the 'core wutzamajig', 'kustom mega blasta', and some random pieces that he still thought he could get a use out of on his left shoulder, he lumbered back toward the camp without saying another word to the remaining boyz who stood there, still stunned at what had transpired. Not long after, some of the remaining lootas made their way toward the wreckages as the Dark Eldar were withdrawing, still high on their victory and their stimulants. The Kabal were far too cunning, and the Orks never expected they would be utterly manipulated and toyed with in the battle, as the realization of defeat finally set in. Sadness and shame washed over them, only lingering for but a moment as the one remaining nob finally spoke "Alright ya runtz, dats enuff gawkin' an' self-pih-eeyin...get back 'ta camp ya gitz, we've gotz lots more Waaagh to wage! You shud pity 'da boyz who won' be around 'ta fight again!" Before the nob could finish his sentence, the boyz were instantly reinvigorated, they let out a hearty "Waaaagh!" as they rallied their spirits together and trotted off following behind Gutwrench, who was still slogging slowly toward the camp, shooting off the occasional obscenity - his entire body hidden by the massive Kustom Force Field generator on his back, as well as the giant metal scraps he carried on his left shoulder while resting his mighty spanner on his right. An outsider would think these Orks just won a battle, even though they were thoroughly defeated and humiliated. They had all quickly realized with the help of the nobz' wise orky guidance, that they shall live to fight another Waaagh, and that was all the satisfaction and assurance they needed.


Great report Somnicide! That game taught me a lot of valuable lessons, one of which being time limits! I had completely written off the possibility of running out of time during that turn, and aside from the other numerous tactical mistakes I made, that one was just icing on the proverbial cake. I loved playing against your Dark Eldar, especially since it was the first game against those junkies I ever had. I can't wait to get a rematch!

GREAT fluff too by the way. That was just an awesome read. Makes me want to do battle reports just like this. (I just need to remember what happens in the games and take pictures! As it is now, I have too much on my mind as I play the games trying not to make crucial mistakes, much less recalling what went down!)

great rep!

Really, really excellent fluff. An absolute pleasure to read.

Also, I'm pretty sure that Gutwrench is a distant cousin of Gutrip.

Awesome battle report. the fact that you added a statement after your win, and he wrote a story for the defeat made this report very memorable. Very Well Done.

I've missed your batreps, although I would rather have had a guest appearance by the Brain .

A list question, what's the purpose behind the 3x5 warriors with blasters? Are you hoping they come in late? Do you really dislike wracks for holding objectives that badly?

@erudog - awesome addition! Thanks for the kind words - I write batreps like I like to read. If you do that you won't go far wrong.

@zid, gutrip, and blackzach - thanks for reading and thanks for the kind words!

@warmaster - Thanks! I am hoping to have some more time to play now that number 2 nurgling is getting a bit older. Shep is on a bit of a daemon kick right now, we might have to do a civil war(p).

As to the list question, the short and easy answer is that I am waiting to see what they come out with for models before I convert them. I am so happy with how everything is looking so far - same reason for no venoms.

The longer answer is that I like my scoring units to also be able to do something more in game. They have decent anti-mech and if things get too close to them then they can add a decent number of wounds through shooting. I typically have them in support of the trueborn or another warrior unit so 16 poisoned shots and 2 str 8 ap2 shots can do a surprising amount of damage. I will definitely play with wracks at some point, I just don't feel like they have much utility, especially in what is, essentially, an almost entirely shooty list.

you always right up a good report man. The fluff just adds another level to the post and you always do a good job with the fluff as I am sure you hear often. So thanks for the effort Somnicide.